Top Presenters Use “Mind Stories” to Engage and Activate Their Listeners

A “Mind Story” engages listeners at the level of values and core beliefs. As such these kinds of stories can activate people in positive ways. By contrast, a regular story told by a presenter might be interesting but doesn’t change people at a core level.

For example, you may remember the book series “Chicken Soup for the Soul” by Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield. These books included stories that touch people at the level of soul, heart, emotions, values. You may like some of these stories and not others. It depends on your values and personality. However, stories that just appeal to the linear, logical, analytical mind tend to not stick with people in the same way.

Mind Stories are metaphors, anecdotes or stories that reprogram people for good or bad. Therefore, you must use them responsibly. They work much like software in a computer and are a universal language everyone understands at the subconscious level. Therapists and counsellors have been using Therapeutic Metaphors for decades. For example, if a client is dealing with the untimely death of a spouse, the therapist might tell the story of a rose garden with two roses. One gets dug up and removed to another location, and what transpires because of that. In hearing the story, often the client will find a new and more helpful perspective on their situation that they might not otherwise be able to see. You can use Mind Stories to help students solve problems, help coaching clients transform an issue, and even sell products and services that your prospects need.

Mind Stories are usually better than common sales talk. In a Mind Story you relate real life instances to real people, thereby showing them how the benefits might play out their life. They see the product as a solution instead of simply a commodity. They make the buying decision it’s the right fit for them versus feeling manipulated. As a result, there is far less buyers regret.

Mind Stories also show us how to change our perspective at will, and break us free of programming that’s keeping us stuck. That’s why using a Mind Story as a speaker at a live event, on a webinar, in a video, with a coaching or consulting client and in a sales conversation, is good for you and for the listener. As long as what you’re teaching or promoting holds value for the listener, these kinds of stories will help clear up misunderstandings and objections.

You can also use Mind Stories for your own personal and professional development. The stories we tell ourselves can make or break our success. For example, I had two coaching clients who were both speaking at the same event. One was telling herself a story about how she wasn’t ready and how the audience wasn’t going to like her talk. The other client was telling himself a different story. It was about how he WAS ready and how the audience was going to love his talk. During our rehearsals the first client fell to pieces and the second client did very well. The story you tell yourself greatly affects your performance.

With my first client we worked on two new Mind Stories. One from her past, where she relived a public speaking success from the year before. I also helped her mentally rehearse how she wanted it to go, thereby creating a new story for her future. As a result, her performance on the actual day was 10x better and people got tremendous value from her talk.

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If you’d like to check out a free process to build good Mind Stories for yourself, check out The Memory Imprint JournalHERE.

Carla Rieger

“Carla Rieger, motivational speaker, author and coach, activates team leaders and business owners to speak with power and passion. She helps you build a positive team culture and to create presentations that grow your income, build your credibility and change lives for the better.”

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